Understanding Ethical Luxury Consumption Through Practice Theories: A Study of Fine Jewellery Purchases

Abstract

This paper builds on existing research investigating CSR and ethical consumption within luxury contexts, and makes several contributions to the literature. First, it addresses existing knowledge gaps by exploring the ways in which consumers perform ethical luxury purchases of fine jewellery through interpretive research. Second, the paper is the first to examine such issues of consumer ethics by extending the application of theories of practice to a luxury product context, and by building on Magaudda's (J Consum Cult 11(1):15-36, 2011) circuit of practice framework. This is significant in that, to date, consumer research using practice theories has focused mainly on routine and habitual practices. Our findings and discussion provide an analysis of intentional and less intentional ethical consumer performances within the interconnected nexus of activities of consumers' fine jewellery consumption practice, where meanings, understandings and intelligibility of social phenomena are worked through the various activities that shape such a practice. Finally, the paper concludes with significant managerial and policyrelated implications, as our extended circuit of practice analysis conveys that if ethics and sustainability dimensions are to be embedded in fine jewellery consumption practice, they must first be made an intrinsic part of the nexus of the social and material environment of trading and consumption places.

Everything Flows: A Pragmatist Perspective of Trade-Offs and Value in Ethical Consumption

“…Practice theories have been taken up both by those with a broad interest in consumption (e.g. Goulding et al 2013;Halkier et al 2011;Skålén et al 2015) and also those with a special interest in ethical consumption and environmental behaviour change (for example Connolly and Prothero 2008;Garcia-Ruiz and Rodriguez-Lluesma 2014;Moraes et al 2015;Røpke 2009;Shaw and Riach 2011). Here, social practices are taken as the everyday and ordinary, enacted in routine and oriented (or not) towards ethical behaviour.…”

“…These, in turn, reflect emerging trends in the wider consumption canon, with identity (see, for example, Bartels and Onwezen 2014;Cherrier 2006;Cherrier and Murray 2007;Luedicke et al 2009) and theories of practice (e.g. Connolly and Prothero 2008;Garcia-Ruiz and Rodriguez-Lluesma 2014;Moraes et al 2015;Røpke 2009;Shaw and Riach 2011).…”

Could Black Be the New Gold? Design-Driven Challenges in New Sustainable Luxury Materials for Jewelry

“…Several debates on sustainable consumption of luxury products have been presented in the literature and on the market [10][11][12]; in fact, not only luxury brands, but also producers of luxury products, particularly high-quality jewelry and clothing, now convey environmental and cultural values to create a relationship with consumers. According to Kim et al [13], luxury product manufacturers can improve their identity and quality by pursuing sustainable development according to consumers' awareness of social and environmental issues.…”

“…According to Kim et al [13], luxury product manufacturers can improve their identity and quality by pursuing sustainable development according to consumers' awareness of social and environmental issues. Numerous authors [11,14,15] have also highlighted the growth of ethical consumption trends and a growing need for transparency of luxury brands: in fact, as underlined by De Pelsmacker et al in 2005 [16], ethical consumption can help transform consumers' sustainable and conscious attitudes into specific buying behavior.…”

“…However, several scholars, such as Lochard and Murat [21], support the idea that the two concepts are compatible: the sustainability of the project must be presented as a new form of elegance, as an added value to the product, to be universally recognized. Moreover, sustainable luxury is about respect for the social and environmental aspects of production and consumption [11]. Luxury products need not wreak destruction on the environment and the communities that manufacture them [22].…”